Health and Social Security - Approved Panel Minutes - 17 March 2016

Present

Deputy R. Renouf , Chairman Deputy T. McDonald

Apologies

Deputy G. Southern , Vice-Chairman

Deputy M. Tadier (co-opted member) (Item 3)

Absent

In attendance

Miss K. Boydens , Scrutiny Officer

Leah Stoodley , Scrutiny Officer (acting up)

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

1. Records of Meetings

The Panel noted and approved the records of the meetings held on 3rd and 7th March 2016. The Chairman thereby signed them accordingly.

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2. Zero-hours Contracts

The Panel agreed that a meeting was required to discuss amendments to the draft report and this was organised to take place on 23rd March at 2:00pm. The Officer advised that meeting requests would be sent out in due course.

The Officer explained that a draft letter to the Chief Minister had not yet been approved. The Chairman made minor amendments to the letter and agreed that, subject to the changes, the letter should be sent to the Chief Minister.

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3. Living on Low Income

The Panel noted that its advisor would be visiting Jersey on 23rd and 24th March. The Officer advised that meetings had been organised with the Chief Statistician and Senator P. Routier. Meetings would also be organised with Officers from the Social Security Department.

The Officer advised that a meeting would be organised on 24th March with the Panel and its advisor. The Panel discussed areas to discuss with the adviser and tasked the Officer to draft the areas in a bullet point list which would be used as a prompt during the meeting.

The Panel had previously received an email from the Lead Officer of the review regarding arranging two drop-in sessions for members of the public. It was agreed that an afternoon session would take place on Monday  4th  April,  and  an  evening  session  would  take  place  on Thursday  7th  April.  The  Panel  tasked  the  Officer  to  advertise  the session widely including using Facebook and Twitter. The Panel also agreed that a Channel 103 advert would capture a wider audience and tasked the Officer to make the necessary arrangements.

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The Panel noted that an increase in the review's budget was required and agreed that the necessary changes would be made to the Scoping Document.

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4. Future Hospital Sub-Panel

It was noted that the Sub-Panel would meet after the scheduled Panel meeting at 2:00pm

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5. Staff Recruitment and Retention at the Hospital

The Panel noted and approved the final report on Staff Recruitment and Retention at the Hospital. The Officer advised that the report would be sent to all States Members and the media under embargo on 18th March for formal presentation on 21st March. It was noted that a media release would be drafted for the Chairman's approval.

The Chairman considered whether a statement regarding the report should  be  made  at  the  next  States  sitting.  On  this  occasion,  the Chairman was not minded to make a statement due to the review topic. It was agreed that a statement would be made for the report on Living on Low Income which would be presented in July 2016.

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6. Age Discrimination Regulations

The Officer explained that the Social Security Department had offered to  give  the  Panel  a  second  briefing  on  the  age  discrimination regulations following the public consultation. The Panel agreed that this would be useful and tasked the Officer to arrange a meeting on 6th April at 9:30a.m.

The  Panel  agreed  that  it  was  minded  to  issue  Comments  on  the regulations. The Officer advised that a Scoping Document would be drafted in due course.

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7. Code of Practice

The Panel provided no specific feedback on the papers circulated by the Chairmen's Committee.

8. Financial Update

The Panel noted its expenditure for 2015.

9. Future Meetings

The Panel noted that its next scheduled meeting would take place on 31st March 2016 at 9:30a.m in the Le Capelain room, States Building.